Dispatching at London Terminals

[spyinthesky]

I watched the dispatching of trains yesterday at various London Terminals and overall I thought that some terminals do it better than others and nearly all let some slack when it comes to Disabled or with Prams that are beyond the cut off.
At Kings Cross and Euston it seems very consistent with the entrance to the platforms blocked off preventing the steady stream of customers that think they can arrive at the gate at time of departure yet at Paddington the steady stream seems to delay departures.
I watched a Swansea bound train at Paddington hold for a wheelchair yet the couple standing behind them were refused entry which ended up gesticulating and banging on the door as the train departed.
I myself have little sympathy with the many that are queuing at food outlets or the bars and admittedly enjoy watching this happen. Paddington and Waterloo seem to be the worst affected imo even with the scrums at the others.
Any thoughts?

 

[LowLevel]

I get no pleasure from watching someone's day being ruined and think you probably have a bit of a problem if you say you enjoy it.

 

[spyinthesky]

I get no pleasure from watching someone's day being ruined and think you probably have a bit of a problem if you say you enjoy it.

I have sympathy with those that have their day ruined caused by other factors that they cannot control.
As for self inflicted missing a train out of stupidity then my bit of a problem kicks in yes.

 

[Bluejays]

Paddington seems to go in peaks and flows, do seem to be lots of late runners at the moment. If someone's genuinely dashing for the train I try to hold on for them within reason. What's really annoying is when you're waiting for someone that is racing up, then they want to stop and delay you further to confirm it's the right train before getting on.

 

[spyinthesky]

Paddington seems to go in peaks and flows, do seem to be lots of late runners at the moment. If someone's genuinely dashing for the train I try to hold on for them within reason. What's really annoying is when you're waiting for someone that is racing up, then they want to stop and delay you further to confirm it's the right train before getting on.

This is where I see gate lines to multiple platforms or no gate line where you yourself are left with the final conflict which must be difficult.

 

[Birmingham]

Paddington seems to go in peaks and flows, do seem to be lots of late runners at the moment. If someone's genuinely dashing for the train I try to hold on for them within reason. What's really annoying is when you're waiting for someone that is racing up, then they want to stop and delay you further to confirm it's the right train before getting on.

Indeed I find the willingness of rail staff to hold up is directly proportional to how much effort the passenger is making to rush. Which is fair enough, so I always make a point to run for it if I really want it.

 

[riceuten]

I remember Kings X when they used to not display the Cambridge Semi-fasts before the Cambridge Cruiser left, giving you about 5 minutes from the train being dispatched to you getting to the platform - the display being on the concourse, and the semi-fasts, usually, but not reliably on platforms 9-11, meaning gridlock as often a train in the other direction had disgorged its passengers to platform 8, down which the Cambridge semi-fast passengers would be trying to make their way up.

The dispatchers would moan that the passengers "never turned up on time"....

 

[Dr Hoo]

I remember Kings X when they used to not display the Cambridge Semi-fasts before the Cambridge Cruiser left, giving you about 5 minutes from the train being dispatched to you getting to the platform - the display being on the concourse, and the semi-fasts, usually, but not reliably on platforms 9-11, meaning gridlock as often a train in the other direction had disgorged its passengers to platform 8, down which the Cambridge semi-fast passengers would be trying to make their way up.

The dispatchers would moan that the passengers "never turned up on time"....

I presume that was before the new ‘side’ concourse came into use?

Not quite sure how relevant that is to the current situation.

 

[riceuten]

Not quite sure how relevant that is to the current situation.

It was, and it was a comment that passengers don't deliberately dawdle or try and cause problems for dispatchers - sometimes there are very good reasons for not being "on time"

 

[TFN]

Lost count of the amount of times people running for the train cluching their Burger King bags at Paddington.

It's worse for the unbarriered Platforms 1, 8 & 9.

 

[T-Karmel]

I don't know if that is still a case but gates on platforms 6&7 at Paddington, differently to other barriers, were closed in the last minute before departure for safe dispatch.

 

[BJames]

At St Pancras (EMR) they often manually pull across one of those yellow barriers a minute or so before departure to prevent late runners - and yesterday, they were announcing very loudly when I came in that "this is a last call for the 20:04 Wellingborough service, please be aware train doors at this station close 2 minutes before departure to ensure an on-time departure" - quite a lot of people started running when they were otherwise walking, so I guess this had the desired effect.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Various references to ‘running’ at stations worry me (as a former station manager). I’ve seen two people drop dead with heart attacks running for trains, one of them at St Pancras (not ‘my’ station).

Classic cause of slips, trips and falls as well, especially on skating rink tiled floors prone to condensation, people spilling coffee and so on.

 

[norbitonflyer]

At Waterloo, the suburban services have very quick turnrounds but they do not announce the platform until the train is entering the platform. This resulkts in a scrum at the barrier as passengers leaving the platform meet those trying to catch the train, and also results in the carriages nearest the barrier filling up fast as people jump on the first carriage they come to rather than being distributed all along the platform as they would if they had arrived at the paltform before the train did.
This inevitably means that those who were less fleet of foot, or were less familiar with the station so did not know which platform their train was likely to depart from, arrive at the platform to find the nearest carriages full and standing, and having to run down the platform just to find space to squeeze on. The only contribution the dispatchesr make is to blow whistles at people. Their vocabulary seems to consist of the two words "Stand Back"

(This practice also ensures that the concourse is more crowded than necessary as no-one is waiting on the platforms, impeding anyone needing to make a dash for their train)

This is a particular problem for passengers heading for Kingston Loop stations, whose trains leave from either platforms 1-5 or from the former International terminal (platforms 20-24). Most regular passengers have a preferred side (depending on how far round the loop their destination is) but a delay or cancellation to one service will result in a mad dash from one end of the concourse to the other - not helped by the departure times for Loop trains being staggered by just two minutes (xx27/57 via Wimbledon, xx29/59 via Richmond)

 

[Horizon22]

Depends where you are. Paddington P1/8/9 have no gateline, so that is always an additional risk for late runners that can only be mitigated by strong platform management.

It’s entirely specific to each scenario. If you’re coming up at it’s last minute at the rear, there’s a guard there and the dispatch process hasn’t ended and you’re visibly / audibly trying to get there, then perhaps. If it’s a DOO service, the dispatcher is in the middle and doors are literally closing, then best to stay away.

I’ve seen countless slips, trips and falls in the dispatch corridor especially when people are going full pelt with luggage. Some have had nasty injuries. Most - if not all - London terminals have departures removed from the CIS 2 minutes beforehand (late running notwithstanding). Obviously as dispatchers/guards you try and assist where feasibly possible but there’s also safety, personal management (get to the train in good time) and timekeeping (1 minute really can cause issues in the peak) to think about and it reinforces good behaviours to dispatch on time, every time (again notwithstanding late running).